


Opening Night

by cazmalfoy



Series: Dylan 'Verse [31]
Category: Torchwood
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-18
Updated: 2013-11-18
Packaged: 2018-01-02 00:29:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1050387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cazmalfoy/pseuds/cazmalfoy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack better have a good excuse for being late.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Opening Night

Ellie Harkness glanced at the clock on the wall; her frown deepening when she spotted that it was ten minutes before curtain up. Her door opened and her best friend (and understudy) entered the classroom-come-dressing-room.

“Well?” she immediately demanded.

Rachel shook her head, an apologetic look crossing her face. “Not yet.”

The sixteen-year-old closed her eyes and turned back to her dressing table, willing herself not to cry and spoil her freshly applied make up. “Oh.”

“He’ll be here,” Rachel assured her, stepping closer and placing her hands on her friend’s shoulders. “He hasn’t missed a show yet, he won’t start now.”

~

For the tenth time in the past hour, Ianto looked at his watch. It was nearing seven thirty and the curtain would be going up soon. Dylan was sitting next to him and the next seat on was still empty.

With a sigh, Ianto pulled his phone out and entered the recent call list. Pressing the call button, he waited for the phone to ring and go through to voicemail before he left his tenth message, “Jack Harkness, where the hell are you? You’d better have a good excuse for being late.”

“Ianto,” Gwen murmured, reaching over and placing a hand on the lawyer’s arm when he snapped the phone closed. “He’ll be here. This is Ellie’s debut as a leading lady; he’s been talking about this for months. I know he wouldn’t miss this for the world.”

Remaining silent, Ianto turned back to face the curtain, his jaw set firmly. If Jack didn’t turn up, it was going to crush their daughter; Jack was the one who got her addicted to musical theatre and enrolled in drama school in the face place. For him not to show up… Ianto knew that would put an enormous strain on their father/daughter relationship.

When the curtain rose ten minutes later, the seat beside Dylan was still empty and Jack was nowhere in sight.

~

It was halfway through the third song when Ianto felt his phone silently vibrating in his pocket. Cursing at himself for buying tickets in the centre of the row, he quietly whispered to Dylan and Gwen where he was going before squeezing past everyone, muttering apologies as he passed.

Outside the auditorium he pulled out his phone and glared when he spotted Jack’s name appearing on his screen. “I hope you’re happy now, you bastard,” he snarled, feeling anger for their daughter well up as he answered the call.

“Mr Jones?” a timid voice asked; a voice which was very clearly not Jack’s.

“Who is this?” Ianto demanded, placing a hand on his hip as he waited for a response.

“My name is Leanne, I’m calling from the University Hospital of Wales.” Immediately Ianto's heart leapt in to his throat and he instantly knew why Jack hadn’t turned up. “You’re listed as the next of kin for Inspector Jack Harkness, is that right?”

Ianto nodded mutely, only realising how futile a gesture that was a fraction of a second later. “Yes, that’s right. What’s happened?”

The young woman on the other end of the line hesitated for a moment too long before she replied, “I think you should get here as soon as you can, Sir.”

~

The distance between the two walls in the waiting room was exactly twenty-five and a half paces; Ianto had counted three times and re-checked a further thirty times. He had been at the hospital for almost two hours and so far all the doctors had told him was that Jack was being seen to and as soon as they had any further information they would let him know immediately.

“Ianto.”

He looked up to see Jack’s boss, Doctor John Smith, walking through the doors and heading toward him. “What the fuck happened?” Ianto snarled, getting into Smith’s face. “He wasn’t supposed to be working! He should have been at the theatre, like he promised his daughter.”

Smith was ageing, nearing retirement age, but he didn’t back down from the Welshman’s anger. “The affidavit we were waiting for came through at the last moment.”

“So? It could have waited! Someone else could have made the arrest!” Ianto growled.

The older man shook his head. “The affidavit was time sensitive. Our suspect was booked on a train out of the city at eight o’clock. We needed to take him down immediately. If it makes you feel any better, Jack tried to get someone else to take the case for him; but there wasn’t anyone else available and we couldn’t get hold of Gwen.”

“You wouldn’t have been able to,” Ianto snapped. “She was watching her niece performing. Like her father was supposed to be!”

Smith was saved from responding when the doors opened again and a whole herd of people burst through. “Is he okay?” were Ellie’s first words as she threw herself into Ianto's arms.

Fighting back tears, wanting to stay strong for his children, Ianto hugged her tightly, pressing his face against the top of her hair. She was still wearing her costume and a few hairpins dug into his skin, but he didn’t care. “I don’t know, Monster,” he whispered. “I don’t know.”

Dylan was standing a few feet away, biting his lower lip fearfully, and clearly fighting back tears. 

“Come here, Squirt,” Ianto instructed, releasing Ellie and pulling the twenty-two year old closer. “It’s okay,” he stated, not entirely sure who he was trying to reassure; but he knew they all needed to believe that Jack would be okay.

“What happened?” Gwen asked quietly, not wanting to interrupt the family moment but anxious to know about what happened to her partner. 

“An arrest went bad,” Smith informed the family and friends. “We had bad information. According to our informant, the suspect wasn’t armed and was defenceless.”

“Which was clearly bullshit!” Dylan snapped.

Smith had to work hard to suppress a smile at that; the young man standing in front of him was very clearly Jack Harkness’ child. Not only did they look strikingly alike, they had the same mannerisms and temperament. It was proof of how thin Ianto was being stretched that he didn’t reprimand his son for his choice of phrases.

“Jack was the first in the house and got injured the worst,” Smith continued. “Most of my guys got flesh wounds. Jack, on the other hand, got hit the worst. He…” he hesitated, unsure about whether the children should know the full extent of their father’s injuries yet.

When Ianto nodded his head, Smith added, “Jack got shot in the leg and shoulder. The bullet to his shoulder was a through and through. We managed to stop the bleeding pretty quickly. It was his leg that caused the problem; it just wouldn’t stop.”

Ellie let out a muffled sob and Dylan pulled his younger sister close, whispering comforting words in her ear, even though it was obvious to all those around him that the young man didn’t believe what he was saying himself.

“Excuse me,” a nurse interrupted, stepping up to the small group with a clipboard in her hands, “I’m looking for Doctor Smith and Mr Jones?”

Both men raised their hands and moved a few feet away from the group, allowing the nurse privacy to update them on Jack’s condition. 

“I’m sorry for the delay,” she began, consulting her clipboard. “Inspector Harkness is in stable condition. We managed to stop the bleeding in his leg and remove the bullet with minimal damage to the surrounding tissue.”

She held up a small plastic bag, holding what appeared to be a 9mm bullet. Ianto felt sick at the very thought of it being inside his partner’s body. 

“I’ll take that,” Doctor Smith smiled, taking the bag from her and signing the clipboard, confirming that he had received the bullet and was now taking responsibility for the evidence.

“What about Jack?” Ianto demanded. “When will we be able to see him?”

She consulted her documents once more before replying, “We’re still waiting for him to come around from the local anaesthetic. When he’s alert you can see him first as you’re his next of kin. After that, it depends on how he feels.”

~

Jack was practically ashen against the stark white hospital bed sheets. His hair was sticking out all over the place in the way that Ianto loved, but Jack couldn’t stand and the lawyer knew Jack would be going spare if he saw what he looked like at the moment.

“Oh, god,” Ianto breathed, closing the door and finally releasing the tears he had been holding back for the past two hours. 

Gwen and Rhys had stayed outside with Ellie and Dylan to give the couple some time to come to terms with what had happened before Jack was bombarded with people. 

Ianto sat on the edge of the bed, remembering that the doctors said it was Jack’s left leg and right shoulder that had been shot at. He reached out a shaky hand and caressed Jack’s cheek, feeling the stubble underneath his palm.

He leant over and pressed a kiss against Jack’s lips, crying even harder when he realised the warm life he felt in his partner had almost vanished. “God, Jack,” he murmured, resting his forehead against the police officer’s. “You can’t leave me; not now. Please, you need to wake up. I need you.”

There was a sleepy groan from below him and he felt, rather than heard, Jack’s voice mumble, “I’m getting wet.”

Ianto let out a slightly hysterical laugh and pulled back a little so he could look into Jack’s now open eyes. The blue was a little hazy and Jack looked exhausted, but it was obvious he was alert and knew what was going on. 

“I missed Monster’s show,” Jack murmured, his voice slurring slightly due to the painkillers he was injected with.

The other man shook his head, a smile playing on his lips as his hand continued stroking Jack’s cheek. “She’ll forgive you,” he assured his partner. “To be honest if you don’t see this show at all, I don’t think she’ll care.”

“I will,” Jack pouted.

Resisting the urge to kiss the pout was too much for Ianto, who leant down and kissed him softly. “I was so scared,” Ianto whispered against Jack’s lips.

He brought his free hand up and ran his palm across Ianto's shoulders. “Me too,” Jack replied, his voice as quiet as Ianto's. “I was so scared I’d never see you or the kids again. Maybe you’re right, maybe I am getting too old to do this job anymore.”

Ianto pressed a finger over Jack’s lips, silencing the other man. “A hospital room is not the place to be having that particular discussion, Jack.”

Jack laughed and agreed, yawning widely as the weariness began to set in further. “Where are the kids?” he asked sleepily.

“In the waiting room with Gwen.”

Ianto got to his feet and opened the door, not surprised to see Dylan sitting on the floor opposite the door, his baby sister cradled in his arms as they waited for Ianto to leave the room.

Seeing the door open, Dylan nudged Ellie, rousing her and informing her of Ianto's return. 

“Is he okay?” Ellie asked, wiping the back of her hand across her cheek’s, drying her tears and smudging her mascara even further.

Ianto nodded and stepped to the side, allowing their children to enter the room, hand in hand. He smiled to himself as he closed the door, giving them some privacy; considering how distant Dylan had been during his teenage years, it was wonderful to see the siblings so incredibly close, to both each other and their parents.

~

Jack grinned when he found himself with an armful of his daughter. “Hey, Ms Peron,” he greeted tiredly, kissing the top of her head. “ ‘m sorry I didn’t make it to your show.”

Ellie shook her head firmly, pushing aside his apologies. “It’s okay,” she whispered, resting her head on Jack’s good shoulder, careful to avoid hurting his leg. She was telling the truth, she really didn’t care that he had missed the show now, as long as he was alive and would be okay.

“No, it’s not,” Jack insisted. “I’ve never missed a show. This was your first time as a leading lady, as well.”

She didn’t say a word as she pressed her face against Jack’s neck, breathing in his familiar scent.

Jack glanced over at Dylan who was standing on the bottom of the bed, staring stoically at them. “Come here, kid,” Jack instructed, waving with his good arm.

Dylan took a few tentative steps toward the bed, afraid that he would pull out a wire or something and Jack would die. “I… I don’t want to hurt you,” he eventually whispered.

Ellie moved away from her father and pushed Dylan into the space she had been occupying previously. 

As he felt Jack’s arm slide around him, Dylan finally let go of the tears he’d been holding back for the sake of Ellie, clutching the front of Jack’s gown as he sobbed.

~

Outside the hospital room, Ianto looked through the small window next to the door, watching his children and partner together. When he had received the call from the hospital, Ianto had been so scared that he was watching his life fall apart in front of him. 

For almost twenty years, Ianto had been worrying about Jack every time he had to go out in the field. He had lost count of how many times Jack had come home with cuts and bruises from arrests that had gone wrong.

The other man had been shot twice before, both of which had been flesh wounds, which a few stitches and a couple of days rest had healed completely. But he had never been injured this seriously before.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Gwen standing next to him, her green eyes rimmed red from crying; he imagined he looked the same, if not worse.

“He’s going to okay,” Gwen said, wrapping her arm around the lawyer, hugging him tightly.

“Yeah,” Ianto agreed, letting out a long breath he hadn’t even realised he’d been holding. “He’ll be okay.”

The End


End file.
